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City manager wants to make Lowell a 'college town'

By Lyle Moran, lmoran@lowellsun.com

Updated:
08/04/2014 09:42:50 AM EDT

LOWELL -- By traveling to Boston College football games across the country, City Manager Kevin Murphy, a BC alum, said he has seen true college towns like Clemson, S.C., that have plenty of businesses targeted at students.

When he looks at Lowell, Murphy said he sees something very different from a college town, but he is already working with local higher-education officials and others to try to change that.

"Making the city of Lowell downtown a college town is my number-one priority," Murphy said in a recent meeting with The Sun's editorial board. "That is paramount.

Crossroads Cafe, at the soon-to-be-opened University Crossing at UMass Lowell off Merrimack and Pawtucket streets. With UML continuing to expand and raise its national profile, city and school leaders say both could benefit by catering to student interests in the downtown. Watch video on this story at lowellsun.com. Sun/Bob whitaker

Murphy said the city has begun efforts to find out from UMass Lowell and Middlesex Community College what types of businesses their students frequent and would like to see downtown.

The city then hopes to host a workshop with downtown businesses to discuss what types of items students are seeking.

Murphy also hopes the university and MCC will meet with students to discuss the different offerings of local businesses.

"We have to make sure businesses are stocking what students are looking for and make sure the students come to these businesses rather than going to Target and other businesses outside the downtown," said Murphy.

The manager said he has tasked a member of his economic-development staff, Erin Findlen, to focus primarily on helping the city center become a college town.

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Murphy also said he hopes to attract more Cambodian businesses downtown, pointing to many successful businesses Cambodians operate in the Lower Highlands and Highlands neighborhoods.

"If you go to Cupples Square or Branch Street, you see that every storefront is full," Murphy said. "It is bustling. Why can't that happen in downtown Lowell?"

Murphy said he hopes Kevin Coughlin, the city's new deputy director of Planning and Development, will play a crucial role in outreach efforts to the city's large Cambodian community.

The University Crossing complex at Pawtucket and Merrimack streets is the latest new building to raise UMass Lowell's footprint in downtown Lowell. sun / Bob Whitaker

The city manager is hopeful that another new hire, Assistant City Manager Mike McGovern, can play a role in better marketing the city, as well as city government.

Murphy recently tapped longtime city employee Diane Tradd as director of the Department of Planning and Development. He said he expects big things from her.

"She is not afraid to think out of the box," said Murphy. "She is not going to be just the same old, 'we are going to do it the same old way.' "

Another employee Murphy pledged support for was Police Superintendent William Taylor, citing his work to respond to a series of shootings in the city earlier this summer.

The city has beefed up patrols and turned to other public-safety partners for assistance, such as the state police.

"I think he is doing a good job," Murphy said of Taylor. "It is a tough, tough situation.

"There are too many guns on the street," he added. "That's the problem."

Murphy said he is fully supportive of the Police Department's efforts to recruit more Southeast Asian police officers. He said it could help the Police Department as a whole build closer relationships with members of the local Cambodian community.

"One thing I noticed in the aftermath of the tragic fire (on Branch Street) is after all these years there is a still a disconnect between the Southeast Asian community and the rest of the community," Murphy said.

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